FootballCardFreak
07-29-2009, 07:05 PM
Writing Team Trial 3/5
By Kyle Hymel aka FootballCardFreak
Ever wonder why busting wax is so expensive nowadays, and when you bust the wax you get 3 autos of backups and no autos of any decent players? Now most of you will be quick to blame the sports card companies, but I think there is an underlying problem: the greed of some players.
Most collectors don't know just how much some players are asking for their auto. Ever wonder why Emmitt Smith autos are few and far between? Even though Emmitt Smith is a fairly recent player, his autos aren't in many products because he charges so much to sign his autograph. I have heard that he charges anywhere from 150-225 dollars just for his signature. Ok...ok...Emmitt Smith is just one player, and he is a retired future hall of famer. What about current players? Even current players like Matt Ryan, Reggie Bush, and Tom Brady charge around 150 dollars for their autos as well.
Unfortunately, that's not the end of the story. Even the lesser-known rookies charge as much as 25-30 dollars for their autograph. So next time you pull the auto of a 6th round player, just remember his auto cost Donruss 25 dollars to acquire.
It is this lack of knowledge that leads to collectors feeling ripped off by companies when they do not get at least somewhat of a return on their investment. I'm not saying that this attitude isn't justified, because I think it is; I'm saying that it is not only the fault of the companies.
Because some star players charge so much for their autos, the cost of boxes rise as well as the number of nobody players that you pull from your hundred dollar box. I'm not saying that all players are like this because some players charge very little for their autos, but every year it seems like more and more money grabbing players come into the league expecting everything to be their way or no way.
So unless a major change is in store, don't expect either the prices to go down or you to suddenly start pulling great player's autos left and right. The fact of the matter is that we have allowed the player's to control the market.
There is one possible solution: take autos out of wax. See, just the thought of that made you gasp didn't it? We will pay whatever the price is although some collectors have stopped busting wax in favor of just buying their singles because they don't want to get ripped off anymore.
One of the major questions posed when talking about our beloved hobby of sports card collecting is whether or not there is a future in our hobby. As long as there are collectors who love the game there will always be a place for this hobby. The question is not whether or not the hobby will still be here, it is what will the hobby be like. If we keep buying wax and blaming the companies for our loses we will not get anywhere because it all stems from players wanting too much money for their autos. What will we do about it? To start, we can inform collectors of the real cause of our costly wax.
By Kyle Hymel aka FootballCardFreak
Ever wonder why busting wax is so expensive nowadays, and when you bust the wax you get 3 autos of backups and no autos of any decent players? Now most of you will be quick to blame the sports card companies, but I think there is an underlying problem: the greed of some players.
Most collectors don't know just how much some players are asking for their auto. Ever wonder why Emmitt Smith autos are few and far between? Even though Emmitt Smith is a fairly recent player, his autos aren't in many products because he charges so much to sign his autograph. I have heard that he charges anywhere from 150-225 dollars just for his signature. Ok...ok...Emmitt Smith is just one player, and he is a retired future hall of famer. What about current players? Even current players like Matt Ryan, Reggie Bush, and Tom Brady charge around 150 dollars for their autos as well.
Unfortunately, that's not the end of the story. Even the lesser-known rookies charge as much as 25-30 dollars for their autograph. So next time you pull the auto of a 6th round player, just remember his auto cost Donruss 25 dollars to acquire.
It is this lack of knowledge that leads to collectors feeling ripped off by companies when they do not get at least somewhat of a return on their investment. I'm not saying that this attitude isn't justified, because I think it is; I'm saying that it is not only the fault of the companies.
Because some star players charge so much for their autos, the cost of boxes rise as well as the number of nobody players that you pull from your hundred dollar box. I'm not saying that all players are like this because some players charge very little for their autos, but every year it seems like more and more money grabbing players come into the league expecting everything to be their way or no way.
So unless a major change is in store, don't expect either the prices to go down or you to suddenly start pulling great player's autos left and right. The fact of the matter is that we have allowed the player's to control the market.
There is one possible solution: take autos out of wax. See, just the thought of that made you gasp didn't it? We will pay whatever the price is although some collectors have stopped busting wax in favor of just buying their singles because they don't want to get ripped off anymore.
One of the major questions posed when talking about our beloved hobby of sports card collecting is whether or not there is a future in our hobby. As long as there are collectors who love the game there will always be a place for this hobby. The question is not whether or not the hobby will still be here, it is what will the hobby be like. If we keep buying wax and blaming the companies for our loses we will not get anywhere because it all stems from players wanting too much money for their autos. What will we do about it? To start, we can inform collectors of the real cause of our costly wax.